Attachments. We all have them. We’re attached to the people we love, we’re attached to our pets, we’re attached to objects, our homes, cars, TVs, computers, cell phones, and on and on it goes. We also have attachments to the way we want things to be, and the way we want things to go. We’re attached to our beliefs and opinions. I admit it. I have a lot of attachments of my own. But the more I learn about attachments, the more I am trying to release them. The more I release them, the more at peace I find myself in any given situation. Some of the biggest attachments we have are to our beliefs and opinions. We don’t want to let them go; nor do we want them to change in any way. Yet most of those beliefs were taught to us by someone else, and opinions are just thoughts based upon our beliefs. Once I learned to let go of those attachments when it came to my beliefs, and opened myself up to learning all the Universe would have for me to know, the knowledge and wisdom I started to gain went into hyper-speed. I learned to trust Spirit as my master teacher rather than to rely on man. One of the attachments I’m learning to let go is my attachment to thinking that all people should be loving, caring, and compassionate. It would be nice if they were; but they’re not. So when I read articles or letters to editors that are filled with hate, bigotry, and ignorance, Spirit really has to give me a talking to in order to keep my blood from boiling. Spirit says, “Karen, just stand back and be the observer.” I don’t have to have an attachment to someone else’s beliefs or opinions. They have nothing to do with me. It’s more about them and who they are as individuals. When I let Spirit lead, then my heart goes out to them in that they don’t know the pure, unconditional, perfect love of Spirit (or God, if you wish). I ask what happened to them in their lives to make them have so much hate in their hearts? Who taught them that? What did they experience in their lives to make them feel that way? When I ask these questions, then I can feel the compassion take over, and I can just be the observer. I can send them love and light and pray that they will some day know unconditional love and find peace. People may get tired of hearing me say it (or reading it), but unconditional love really is what life’s all about. All the great Spiritual teachers and leaders have said it. Love one another. Jesus said, “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another.” (John 13:34) What part of this do we not understand? He made no exceptions. If someone isn’t speaking words of love, peace, harmony, compassion, kindness, and oneness then they are not speaking for God. They are speaking for man and man’s own personal beliefs. 1 Corinthians 13:4-5 states, “Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth.” This is a very good truth to keep in mind when we think about the attachments we have as to what we believe and the opinions we express. I just read a great book by don Miguel Ruiz, Jr., a Nagual and Toltec Master of Transformation, titled “The Five Levels of Attachment.” In it he states: “I am love and peace starts with me. I do not see race, creed, religion, gender, or whatever else as a division of the human species. I do not see a belief that tears me away from my brother and sister. I do not see an ego, a personal importance that forbids me from communing with everything in existence. The point of life is to love, and to do so is a choice. In that choice I take action, and in that action, I am love. I have a voice. I can use it to oppress, or I can use it to liberate. I can create, I can lead, and I can love. The same is true for you. Together we can say, I love. All we have and are is love.” Therefore, release your attachments and let love in. See your world through the eyes of Love. It may just change your life. (Published in the Cookeville Herald Citizen March 15, 2013.)